Friday, November 5, 2010

Board of Aldermen: Public Art Bill Passes, and a Reminder That Police Are Here to 'Protect and Serve'

In today's St. Louis Board of Aldermen news, the long-debated, long-awaited Board Bill 2 has passed! 21st Ward Alderman Antonio French is behind the bill, which will establish a Public Art Trust Fund for the city.

Click behind the cut to hear more about the landmark public art bill, and more business from this week's meeting at City Hall.

This fund will be overseen by the Regional Arts Commission, and will provide for works of art within the City of St. Louis and at Lambert Airport, to reflect the civic pride residents feel, and to unify and beautify the city. The bill already had enough support to pass two weeks ago, but the legislative process meant that a final vote could not be held until today. Plus, the Krispy Kreme donuts that the bill's advocates brought along to that last meeting before voting the bill to the perfection consent calendar couldn't have lost them any support either.

Read the bill on the St. Louis city website. (The final version that passed is the 'committee substitute' link toward the bottom of the page, which will bring you to a PDF of the bill's language.)

In other Board of Aldermen news...

-Board Bills 219 and 220 had their first reading. If passed, all vehicles used by the Fire and Fire Prevention Divisions of the Department of Public Safety, as well as all vehicles used by the Metropolitan Police Department of the City of St. Louis would be required to have "to protect and serve" painted on them. What, like we'd mistake the police department's purpose to be something else? "To tase and profile," perhaps? "To eat pastry and intimidate"? Sponsored by 1st Ward Alderman Charles Troupe (yes, he of "drinking in public is only OK if you're on your lunch break" fame), we'll be waiting on the edge of our seats to see how much taxpayer money this meaningful venture will cost. Read the bills at Troupe's page.